One More Happy Ending

One More Happy Ending

8/10

One More Happy Ending

Genre:                  Episodes: 16                  Year: 2016

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

The once popular girl group ‘Angels’ disbanded after a fight between the members. Many years later, four of the five girls are still friends friends and have remained close through various hardships in their lives. Han Mi Mo has been divorced for five years and runs a successful dating agency with former group-member Baek Da Jung. Mi Mo is the type who rushes into relationships easily, and nearly marries her childhood friend and neighbour, Song Soo Hyuk, after a drunken night. Da Jung is withdrawn, and her husband wants a divorce. Go Dong Mi is a primary school teacher who is desperate to get married, but has problems in finding suitable men. Hong Ae Ran is engaged to a sweet man who dotes on her, but she is unsure if she wants to get married.

Cast

Jang Na Ra (Han Mi Mo)

Jung Kyung Ho (Song Soo Hyuk)

Kwon Yul (Goo Hae Joon)

Yoo In Na (Go Dong Mi)

Yoo Da In (Baek Da Jung)

Kim Tae Hoon (Kim Gun Hak)

Seo In Young (Hong Ae Ran)

Park Eun Seok (Bang Dong Bae)

Ahn Hyo Seop (Ahn Jung Woo)

Kim Dan Yul (Song Min Woo)

General Thoughts:

Overall it was a very sweet series about second chances, and personal growth so that these second chances could work. This drama has probably got one of the best pilot episodes I’ve ever seen. It gives a great introduction to our characters, and enough information on them that we have a clear understanding of their personalities, yet somehow avoids type-casting the characters into gimmicky, cookie-cutter character moulds.

Most exciting pilot episode ever

The opening episodes are fun, hilarious and ridiculously entertaining to watch. Jang Na Ra and Jung Kyung Ho (with a little help from the writers no doubt) mastered the art of delivering humorous, if slightly ridiculous scenes with complete conviction- but never made the audience feel awkward or embarrassed on their behalf. Which is pure magic. It’s not easy to have a highly embarrassing scene and not have your actors become highly embarrassing, yet ‘One More Happy Ending’ seems to have nailed this dynamic. It keeps the drama happily in the realm of funny and entertaining, without toeing the line of ridiculousness.

They were helplessly hilarious together

To go with their splendid acting, our leads play a pair of truly endearing characters. Both have been hurt in the past, and in different ways both are gathering up their courage to attempt to live life again. The support characters were just as delightful as our leads, with each character giving the feeling of a fully fleshed-out individual with their own dreams, fears and conflicts. Yay for not having two-dimensional support! Well…except for maybe Goo Hae Joon. But we’ll just ignore that for now. The overall tone of the series was extremely heartwarming. While many (if not most) K-Drama rom-coms like to play our the main pairing as a relationship that is some form of destiny, this series takes a much more realistic look at romantic relationships. If effort isn’t continually put into the relationship- it dies. If you can’t communicate with your partner- distance grows. No one in this series was part of a simple, easy, happy relationship- they all had complications, and they all had to sacrifice something in order for the relationship to work. Obviously this does mean that there’s a lot more sadness in the series, but it also means that there’s a lot more heart than your typical rom-com. Every sweet moment, and every step forward felt completely earned.

Woo hoo! A successfully executed love-triangle!

They played the love triangle really well. It was interesting to have our male lead in the typical villain role- friend who only realises his feelings once his buddy starts dating the girl. The balance that the writers nailed perfectly was that it never felt as though Hae Joon really loved Mi Mo- he only loved the idea of her. He struggled to get past seeing her as the girl group idol, and failed to identify with her as a person. He was always much more focused on the competition. He tended to see Mi Mo as a trophy that would be won by the victor of the male’s battle, while Soo Hyuk only wanted her to be happy and well cared for.

The correct response when Jung Kyung Ho asks you to marry him

It was a delicate balance to find, but the drama managed to find a way for Soo Hyuk to be on the outside of Mi Mo and Hae Joon without becoming a total jerk. I didn’t love the ending as much as I thought I would. I felt like Soo Hyuk was doing a lot of the work, while Mi Mo just sat back and enjoyed it. While I appreciate that she realised that she needed to take time with her relationships and not just jump in head-first, I do wish that she’d payed a little more attention to Soo Hyuk’s feelings. I wish the show had spend a little more time on Mi Mo coming to understand Soo Hyuk’s insecurities and fears about not being able to marry his son’s mother while she was still alive, and a little less time on things like Soo Hyuk’s not-actually-a-blood-relative sister marrying Mi Mo’s ex-husband. Or that super annoying, super unnecasry friend who randomly rocked up and tried getting Soo Hyuk to marry her. Ah, well. It is what it is. While there were some moments of teary angst (not all appreciated), the drama was overall a cute, endearing watch. I mean, come on. How could it not be with leads that adorable?

What Was Great:

Our Leads:

Jang Na Ra and Jung Kyung Ho were just top sh*t, really. They were phenomenal and fantastic in every scene. They delivered beautifully flawed, marvellously realistic characters that were simply a joy to watch on screen. Along with the great acting, the two characters were written exceptionally well.

How can two people have so much cute?

It was easy to understand our characters motivations and hesitations. We saw how they were hurt and how this impacted their lives. So rather than being frustrated at a character’s lack of action, we could empathise with them, and appreciate the courage it took for them to take that first step forward. Particularly in Soo Hyuk’s case. Because who wouldn’t have deep emotional issues after your girlfriend’s brother blames you for her death and tells you any girl you love with suffer and die. Yeaaaah. Poor baby.

I have an uncontrollable amount of love for this kid

Individually our leads were fantastic, but they were just a great (if not better) when they were together. The two of them getting drunk together and having drunken shenanigans was pure gold to watch. Watching Soo Hyuk get jealous of his best friend and try and bring Mi Mo down was hilarious. Mi Mo and Soo Hyuk finally getting their act together and becoming the cutest couple out was adorable. The two had an easy, relaxed chemistry that was enjoyable to watch play out, and the addition of Soo Hyuk’s son, Song Min Woo, added a whole new level of adorable into the mix. There was something so weirdly alluring in Soo Hyuk being such an awesome Dad. And the cute going on between Soo Hyuk and Min Woo definitely rivalled the cute between Soo Hyuk and Mi Mo. Min Woo was just so great as a character- he was complicated, but was always sweet, mature, and had some great one-line deliveries, be they hilarious or heart-wrenching.

Our Support:

All the girls from the girl group (bar that one chick no one liked and no one saw) were beautifully developed side characters. While the other girls defiantly took a back seat to Mi Mo and her conflicts (cuz well…she is the main character here), they still managed to be fully constructed, well thought through characters with their own storylines. I also appreciated that every support character had a different struggle to work through, and we weren’t simply watching the same conflict play out three different times with different characters.

I love a K-Drama with good girl friendships (and there aren't that many)

My favourite of the lot was definitely Da Jung. We watch her go through so much heart break and suffering that you can’t help but sympathise with her situation. Her relationship with her husband was so painfully heart wrenching and real. It was clear that the two loved each other dearly, but neither knew how to begin to bridge the vast distance that had formed between them. I was so happy when Gun Hak made the decision to try and work on his marriage, and it was so satisfying to watch Da Jung open up to him (no matter how slowly).

You can make it work-  believe in you!

It was massively enjoyable to watch the two fight the embarrassment and awkwardness of trying to rediscover their lost feelings, and beautifully highlighted one of the main commentaries of the drama- love is childish. Dong Mi’s storyline was enjoyable as well. She was constructed as the naive romantic who always got scammed, so it was a nice surprise to see her suddenly in a Noona Romance. And I Love. Noona. Romances. The complications due to the age difference were realistic, and her wonderful young man was hopelessly sweet (as is needed in any good Noona Romance). I liked the writers’ choice to leave that storyline more open than the others, rather than having the younger man conquer all and marry her- because it was so much more believable that a year later the 24 year old still hasn’t quite got his life together, and they may or may not get married. While Dong Mi held firm to her desire to get married, and didn’t really compromise what she wanted in life, her story was more about how she learned to relax into a real relationship instead of continually hoping for some shiny knight on a white steed. Ae Ran had the least developed storyline of the lot, and her love-line didn’t really fit my tastes. I found it acceptable enough, but I contribute most of that to Park Eun Seok’s criminally handsome face rather than fluid writing and smooth plot development.

He's just far too handsome to dislike

His excuse that he cheated on her because she made him feel lonely was so not acceptable, and it was a little unbelievable that he turned into such a doting husband after admitting that he only married her so that his family would stop nagging him to find a wife. That being said, I loved how Ae Ran’s real story was more about herself, and how she needed to improve her own life outside of her husband. Her story arc ending on her deciding to go back to study in order to improve her business was immensely satisfying in a way her romance never was.

General Flow:

The drama as a whole was an enjoyable experience- there was nothing in it that was unbearably frustrating. While there was a period of angst in the middle there, it did feel as though this was built up nicely.

Happy - Angsty - Happy

The first two episodes were so fantastic that I worried the show would struggle to maintain its momentum, but it managed to do a fairly consistent job of remaining enjoyable. While the rest of the series definitely wasn’t as fun as its initial start, there was a lot to enjoy in it as Mi Mo and Soo Hyuk’s relationship developed. The mopey part in the middle wasn’t even that bad, as it was necessary for our main couple to his a couple of rocks and hard places before realising what they want. I found the angst presented fairly acceptable because it was our characters slowly realising what they want and realising that it would be hard and painful to get it that created the drama. It wasn’t just hurt feelings and bruised emotions because one individual wasn’t speaking their honest feelings. The drama then gets back into its cutesy, happy swing for the last few episodes. Though I will admit, the last episode was just a tad too cheesy for my taste.  

What Wasn’t:

Some Unnecessary Complications:

A couple of times there it really felt like the writers were just grasping at straws for reasons why Mi Mo and Soo Hyuk shouldn’t be together. The majority of the conflict came from him not expressing his feelings and her dating his best friend, so after that all other conflicts relationship-wise felt pretty weak. First we have Min Woo’s awkward feelings of guilt towards his mother- which was actually a huge success.

Ahh Min Woo...so many feels

It was a way for Mi Mo and Min Woo to bond outside of Soo Hyuk, and did give a little bit of thought to Min Woo as a character- which is just as well, because I loved Min Woo as a character. But then we had that female friend who suddenly came all the way from America. It was the first knowledge the audience had that Soo Hyuk had received any female help with raising Min Woo in the states, and unlike the rest of the female characters, she was a typical, petty, jealous love rival. Nothing new there. There wasn’t enough possibility for her to intervene in Soo Hyuk’s relationship, so it was just awkward and annoying having her as part of the series. At the end of the day, her character added nothing to the drama- Soo Hyuk was firm and clear with her from the get go that she had no chance with him. After that thankfully brief interlude, we had the complication of Soo Hyuk’s younger sister marrying Mi Mo’s ex. Ohhhh, now that’s what you call awkward.

New conflict was not as good as the old conflict

This was actually a pretty solid plot idea- it made Mi Mo have to think about how seriously she wanted to be a part of Soo Hyuk’s life. It would be hard for her to break up with Soo Hyuk, but staying with him meant she would continually have to see her ex-husband. I really wish the writers had taken the drama in the direction where Mi Mo would place her love for Soo Hyuk above her awkwardness and bitterness for her ex- but nope. Instead, they make it so that they aren’t really brother and sister, they’re just so close that they treat each other that way. And Soo Hyuk is apparently super ready to cut off all ties if it means keeping Mi Mo around. What an easy fix there.

JUST MARRY HIM ALREADY

And lastly there is Mi Mo’s unwillingness to get married. Which I suppose is a valid point. The whole series has been about how she often comes to grief from rushing into things too quickly. But I was totally on Soo Hyuk’s team here. All drama long we’ve seen Soo Hyuk be the hidden knight- doing things for Mi Mo without her knowledge, and protecting her without asking for anything in return. And I know that doesn’t mean he has the right to marry her because he’s done aaaaaall these things for her. But Mi Mo didn’t give a solid argument for waiting for marriage. At the end of the day, I completely understand why she didn’t want to rush into marriage- because last time she did, she was hurt badly. But from the way Mi Mo was explaining it, it sounded as though she believed that as soon as they were married, all romance and love would drop out of the relationship. Her basic argument is that marriage = unhappiness, and she wanted a period of time where they were happy together before rushing into the pit of unhappiness that is marriage. 

No Chance of Liking Second Male Lead More:

Good grief Goo Hae Joon was a bland character. I really don’t comprehend why all these female characters were battling each other to gain his affections. Because he’s actually super boring. Sure, he seems nice enough, and he’s not bad to look at- but he had about as much personality as a rock. I wasn’t particularly interested with the relationship between him and his ex-wife either.

He was just....so...bland.

I enjoyed the dynamics when it was his ex pointing out what he had done wrong in their relationship in attempts to make him realise what he needed to change in order to have a successful relationship. But once Mi Mo broke up with Have Joon and Have Joon’s ex-wife was seeming to want to get back together, it just became a tad boring. I’m glad that in the end the two didn’t get together and were able to find a comfortable balance as friends. It would have felt a little two forced if they started dating again.

Re-watch?

Probably not. While I did love the series as a whole, I probably won’t watch it as a whole again. The first couple of episodes were definitely the highlight. It was interesting to watch all the relationships grow and develop, but it’s the kind of rom-com that probably won’t hold the same charms the second time around once you know what’s going to happen. 

Unfortunately, the last episode was not as wildly fun as the first